Gerald D'Cunha

  “Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master.” Christian Lous Lange (Noble Peace Laureate)     T his man lives in our housing complex. And, I have been seeing him leaving for his small, retail shop every morning and returning late in the evening. This morning, we bumped into each other on our way to our respective work places. “Good morning Sir,” I greeted him, and asked, “How old is your shop?” “Forty years,” he replied. “And, how old are you?” I asked with a smile. “Seventy-three,” he said with an equally clean smile. “Wow! You were 33 when you stared it; and, you have maintained your daily routine of leaving for the shop and returning?” “Yes, I come home in the afternoon for lunch... Rest for an hour and go back to work only to come home late in the evening.” “What were you doing, before you started this shop?” I asked. “I worked in Dubai for thirteen years,” he said, “I went to Dubai for work when I was 20.” “That makes a maratho...

  “Someday, we are going to look back and wonder, how we ever got by without AI.” Derek Haoyang Li   I t’s almost 9 p.m., here in India… and, it’s 7.30 p.m. there in Abu Dhabi. I just concluded my online (Zoom) session with a group of CBSE students. Such a routine of online classes for long-distance students has become a new normal for many like me. Yes, all thanks to the Pandemic. Even my local students have an option whenever they are unwell or out of station… They needn’t miss my class; they can join online… And, as Derek Haoyank Li says about AI, I, too, find myself saying the same, looking back: “How I ever got by without these online platforms?” Looking back, you and I have to say the same about every kind of technology… Imagine machines, transport facilities, phones, the internet, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter ( ‘X’), malls, multiplexes, OTT platforms, Amazon, Swiggy, Wefast, GPay Paytm, Zomato, OLA, Uber, Urban Clap – there are scores of t...

  “Good-old fashioned ways keep hearts sweet, head sane and hands busy.” Lousia May Alcott I haven’t checked, if people still ask this, while talking to their relatives: “What is cooked, today?” – “Kya banaya aaj?” And, on a birthday or anniversary day, if they still ask this: “What is special, today?” Today is a Sunday. A while ago, while talking to my elder brother, Franklin (who lives in our hometown), that good-old question: “Brother, what is special today?” And, my brother went on explaining what’s special for lunch, today… Brother, also, narrated as to where, when and how he went to buy chicken, fish and veggies, this morning… I was smiling… A couple of my FB friends regularly post pictures of the breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, drinks etc. So, we do not have to ask them - “What is cooked, today?”, or “What is special, today?” … It has been promptly broadcast! I was, also, smiling, as my elder brother was narrating to me where, when and how he went to buy ...

  “Online learning is not the next-big thing; it is the now-big thing.” Donna J. Abernathy   I just checked the meaning of the word – ‘Antics’. Yes, I did it through several online dictionaries… Cambridge, Merriam-Webster and others. According to them, the word means: Amusing, silly or   strange behaviour; Foolish, outrageous or amusing behaviour; Funny, silly or strange behaviour; Attention-drawing, often, wildly playful or funny act or action. T wo days ago, Glen*, who is a ninth-standard student in one of the prestigious Catholic institutions, sent a message to me: “Uncle, I am selected for English   elocution in our school and I am supposed to make a good speech. We have been given seven topics to choose from… I am thinking of speaking on the topic – ‘ONLINE LEARNING ANTICS’… (Bring out the wit and humour in your writing/speech without being offensive). Can you please guide me.” “Perfect choice!” I thought in my mind, “All concerned – the s...

“ "It is hard to understand addiction unless you have experienced it.” -        Ken Hensley F or most of us – shall I say ‘for all of us’ – it’s become very, very difficult to sit quietly at one place, even for a few seconds. Our minds have become so addictive to fill every millisecond of that quiet space… that, our hands instinctively reach to our phones, computers and other gadgets… And, there we are… All of us… everywhere… looking down on our mobile-phone or computer screens… endlessly watching something, reading something, listening to something, allowing ourselves to be swayed and influenced, and, yes, ‘colonized’… Though I knew what the constant onslaught of social media and technology has done to our lives, it was Mahershala Ali, the American actor and rapper, from whom I first picked this colourful expression: “Social media has colonized what was once a sacred space occupied by emptiness: the space reserved for thought ...

“Each of us guards a gate of change that can be opened only from the inside.” - Stephen Covey L osing my patience with my students – when they do shoddy work, when they bunk, when they don’t do home-work, when they show total indifference etc – has almost become part of my nature. After all, I have been teaching for over forty-one years or so (I started teaching since age 18 when I was in F.Y. B.Com). So, like everything else in life, we all tend to become a bit tired and irritated doing the same thing days after days, years after years… My love and passion for teaching have not died and they will never die… But, patience, quite often, dries up… and, I tend to show it before my students… Well, mercifully, my students think that my impatience and irritation with them do not stem from my bias or hatred. They empathize with me and think it is for their good… Let me confess: that’s a huge relief for me! Yes, I love my students and I am really co...

A friend of mine gave me a lift just a while ago. I was meeting him after a long time. So, I asked him, “Is everything fine? I am seeing you after a very long time.” The gentleman, who is in his mid-thirties, is well-placed in a multinational company. His work involves extensive travel and use of technology. “Parents’ health issues and my work pressure,” the gentleman explained, “It has been tough to cope with.” I had seen his father and mother both shrinking gradually. Barely a few months ago, when I saw his dad, I felt very sorry… each step looked like a massive milestone! After that, I had not been seeing the gentleman’s parents… “They are not able to move out,” the gentleman told me, today. Our conversation took a turn from there. “That generation did not have the kind of life style we are having,” the gentleman told me, “We all will start shrinking right in our thirties and forties!” I nodded my head! None of us – I said ‘none’…. Neither a k...

Pic.: Nicole Gubin O ne doesn’t need a great voice to be a great singer, these days. There are highly sophisticated devices in the state-of-the-art studios around, to fix that. Similarly, these days, one doesn’t need a great creative-eye to be a great photographer. The Photoshop is there to fix that! Well, the up-side of the story is: the music, songs and pictures can come out fast and effortlessly. Even at an extremely low cost. But, the flip-side is: the singers thrive without possessing great voice, the musicians thrive without possessing mastery over their instruments… and, the photographers thrive without possessing the creative eye… And, in the end, everything and anything goes! “Years and years of riaz!” “Fourteen years of learning violin or tabla”… Do you get to hear such statements, now a days? Things are to be done fast these days; they need to be done with less fuss… That’s how the music and songs are recorded today in studios… Every musici...

Pic.: Chandrasekhar Varier T wo days ago, a doctor-friend of mine had invited me for a dinner in a nice restaurant. We were three of us, the third one being a lawyer-friend.  We spent more than two hours… and, during this time, I sent only one message, but didn’t pick up a single call … My doctor-friend picked up one call but did not read or  send any message… and, my lawyer-friend seemed as though he was not carrying a mobile with him. Yes, it was so peaceful and so free from the endless encroachment which we all are so used to… The lawyer-friend was not on Whatsapp. The doctor-friend told us that he had got fed-up with the ‘groups’ and found such kind of communication to be an unwanted source of stress and anxiety. “I have informed all concerned that I prefer sms’s and I may not read the Whatsapp messages,” he said. Technology has come light-years ahead. It was supposed to make our life easy and comfortable. It has. But, it has, also, brought a...